Sydney couple Sage Nassar and Blake Surace are living with Nassar’s parents to save up for a home deposit. (Source: Supplied) <\/p>\n
A Sydney couple are saving $4,000 a month each by living with their parents<\/a> while they build up their savings for their first home deposit<\/a>. More Australian adult children are living with their parents for longer, with many seeing it as a necessary sacrifice to get ahead as property prices soar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sage Nassar, 23, and her partner Blake Surace, 28, live with her parents<\/a> at their home in Rouse Hill. The couple are currently searching for their first home, but plan to rent it out for the first few years and continue living at home to get ahead of their mortgage<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t really feel the need to move out. We get along with my family quite well. For us, it was like, why rent and pay someone else\u2019s mortgage when we can put that money into our savings?\u201d Nassar told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n RELATED<\/p>\n The couple have saved up a 20 per cent deposit for a $1.2 million home and are hoping to buy somewhere that is still close to both their families, such as Parramatta.<\/p>\n They don\u2019t pay board to live at home, but do cover their own bills and groceries. This means the couple are able to save roughly half of their income, with Nassar working full-time in HR and Surace in construction.<\/p>\n Nassar said the reality was this wouldn’t be possible if they weren’t lucky enough to live at home rent-free.<\/p>\n Do you have a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cLiving at home allows us to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to save<\/a>, especially in this economy. It\u2019s very hard to save, if you don\u2019t live at home and you\u2019re paying rent and you\u2019re paying bills and doing all that, plus just trying to do everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n A Curtin University survey of 1,725 parents found living rent-free in the family home<\/a> had become the number one way parents helped their kids in the last five years.<\/p>\n In the past five years, 40 per cent had allowed their kids to live rent-free at home, 35 per cent had given a cash gift, 21 per cent a loan, and 14 per cent had gone guarantor.<\/p>\n The couple have noticed properties have been getting more competitive and more expensive, particularly since the government expanded its 5 per cent deposit scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n Limits on applicant numbers have been scrapped, along with significant increases to property price caps. In Sydney, the price cap has gone from $900,000 to $1.5 million.<\/p>\n \u201cYou noticed it was a lot more competitive, a lot of people at the open houses, a lot more crowded,\u201d Nassar said.<\/p>\n Recent Cotality data found the first-home buyer scheme<\/a> had fuelled a surge in lower-priced homes. Homes under the price cap increased 3.6 per cent in the December quarter, while those above the cap increased 2.4 per cent in the same period.<\/p>\n The gap was particularly pronounced in Sydney, where homes below the price caps increased 2.3 per cent compared to those above, which fell 0.1 per cent.<\/p>\n Gareth Croy, managing director of Your Future Strategy, expects Australia\u2019s property price growth cycle will be led by \u201csecond-tier\u201d suburbs such as Parramatta, where the couple is considering, this year. Median house prices in the suburb are $1,480,000.<\/p>\n \u201cParramatta isn\u2019t emerging anymore, it has arrived,\u201d Croy said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you combine hospitals, universities, offices and transport at scale, you create permanent housing demand. That\u2019s why Parramatta keeps outperforming expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n Croy also highlighted South Campsie in Sydney for growth. Looking at the other capitals, Werribee West and Box Hill were tipped for growth in Melbourne, and Bracken Ridge and Kedron in Brisbane.<\/p>\n Other areas included Prospect and Davoren Park in Adelaide, Warwick and South Perth in Perth, Geilston Bay in Hobart, Darwin City for units, and Gungahlin and Lyons in Canberra.<\/p>\n Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n The couple are hoping to buy a $1.2 million property and rent it out to help for the first few years. (Source: Supplied) <\/p>\n